As someone who has a profound fear of flying myself since I was young, I can honestly say I feel Royce White's pain and anxiety. I have a flight scheduled for a trip to England this winter, and I am already dreading and stressing massively over it.

In my opinion, or at least in my case, it is due mostly to a loss of control. You can throw as many statistics about the safety of flying as you want at me, but it still can't relieve that anxiety and complete lack of control that goes with putting your life in the hands of that pilot on that airplane. It's an irrational fear, there's no doubt about it, but a completely understandable one speaking from my own shoes.